Bleizel D.

Teodosio Law III-B

Legal Language

LAW AND THE SOCIETY

Law plays different parts in life of every person, it means distinctive things
for each of us. But what is law exactly for me? It’s true to say that it is a
very difficult question, but I’ll try to find the right answer, which will disclose
my interpretation of this point.
Actually, law is a set of special legal rules, enforceable by the courts,
regulating the government of a state, relationship between the organs of
government and the subjects of the state, and the relationship or conduct of
subjects towards each other. Actually, it is a rule or body of rules made by
the legislature for keeping order in one state. But it is just a definition.
In my life law is something that makes people create society and live mostly
in peace by common rules. People have to be governed by law to avoid
illegality and therefore uncontrolled behaviour. If there is no law regulating
a person’s acts, chaos will be the obvious consequence. There is no doubt
that I can’t imagine any normally existing large group of people, not being
restricted by legal norms. Even in ancient times people created customs and
traditions, that later was named as common law. And now we can see that
every society has tried to make any rules to settle social behaviour.
Let’s imagine the situation that there isn’t law in one “State”. And what will
we see in this place? A lot of people behaving themselves as they want,
murdering without any punishment, commiting vandalism, but for all that
escaping blame and conviction. People in such situation don’t know what is
right or wrong, they have no possibility to find it out. Such “State” won’t
exist for a long time, at first society will have to create common law and than
find a leader. A good example to such a situation is the soviet film “How to
kill dragon”, where it is shown how after the disappearance of strong
totalitarian power people felt absolute anarchy and everybody’s common
sovereignty. May it lead to any fortunate results? Definitely not. No law, no
govern, no rules, no society. Everything is very well connected.
Another example might be a survival situation. A group of people are
stranded on an island with twenty days of food and water. They know that
a rescue team will reach them on the twenty first day. They carefully divide
the food such that they get the necessary nourishments by the time they are
Bleizel D. Teodosio Law III-B
Legal Language

rescued. A person, out of greed for more, sneaks quietly and consumes two
days of food meant for the whole group. When the group discovers what has
happened they confront the person who cunningly reasons with the group
that there was no rule or law which forbade eating more. As the group
consisted of educated men and women, both young and old, they knew his
reasoning was correct and they could not do anything to get the food back.
As a result, they starved for two whole days during which a few old people
fell ill and could not make it.

Absence of law provides an opportunity to go against the general foundation

of the society. It goes against one’s conscience. The fear of punishment is
absent which contributes to the growing confidence of the wrong-doer that
he or she can get away with anything. This disturbs the balance of our
civilized society encouraging more and more people to take to this habit.

Moreover, legislation is integral part of law, just legal codes, passed by the
government, give guaranty to people that all rules won’t change in different
cases, that you always have documents, laws, defending your rights. Law
can’t exist without it. Without written laws society stays on the initial stage
of development. That’s why legislation composes my interpretation of law
too.
Finally, I’d like to notice that first of all law for me means strong order in our
society, people’s support and their confidence in the future. All this should
be provided by the government by passing necessary laws and people’s strict
observance of those rules. It won’t be any state without such conditions.
Law is essential in the society. Law is there to guide the society towards
happiness without bloodshed and in peace and harmony. Law helps us to
restrain ourselves in times of great thirst for more money or power. It curbs
our greed reminding us that there is someone or rather something out there
ready to punish us if necessary. It helps to restore the balance in the society
and bring justice to the victimized. The greatest thing about law is that all
are equal before it. No man is rich or poor in the eyes of the law. No man is
more powerful than the other in the eyes of the law. Law helps to regulate
the behaviour of the people. It prevents us from descending into anarchy.

Law is dynamic. It is constantly adapting to the changing times so as to close

all the loopholes that may be left due to human error. Our Preamble states
Bleizel D. Teodosio Law III-B
Legal Language

the ideals of JUSTICE, LIBERTY, SOVEREIGNITY, FRATERNITY and

EQUALITY which constitute the basic foundation of Our Constitution.
However, without law these ideals will be constantly shattered. There will be
nothing to protect these ideals.

In a world where ‘survival of the fittest’ is prevalent, and looking at the size
of human population we can say only one thing. Law is needed for survival.
We cannot go against each other as it will definitely lead to destruction. Law
plants an element of fear which may prevents in killing of fellow human
beings. It gives each one his or her own share, what they deserve.